Hello all,
My daughter is trying to decide between SVA and Pratt for illustration. Her first choice is SVA, but out of all the schools she got accepted to, SVA is the only one who is not giving her any scholarship money, therefore it will be about $17K more expensive than Pratt. Is it worth the money? Will she have a better chance of getting a job after graduation from one school over the other? We are NYers, so being either in Manhattan or Brooklyn is not an issue. Thoughts?? Any professionals have insight?
I’m wondering exactly this same thing with my friend… I’m helping her decide. Same situation. Scholarship money from Pratt (because she has really good grades and test scores). Illustration major, HS senior. It’s a tough decision. I visited both campuses with her. Have you visited the campuses? The new dorms at SVA have to be better than what we saw at Pratt. My friend’s art teacher told her that the teachers at Pratt are mean. SVA had such a professional feel to it. The students’ work was wonderful and it’s in a great part of town. It’s hard to just walk away from the scholarship though… Tough call.
SVA is an excellent school for illustration. While I don’t know about illustration at Pratt specifically, my D1 will be in the same general program - Communication Design - which combines illustration, graphic design and advertising art. After the foundation year, ComD students all do another foundation year in ComD specifically, then in junior year specialize further into their areas of interest (graphic, illustration, and advertising). D1 is currently in her 1st year so taking the standard foundation courses as everyone else in the schools of art and design. She’ll begin the ComD program as a sophomore.
From everything that I’ve heard, ComD is an excellent program. Lots of opportunities for internship and job placement. Because the illustrators are trained along with the graphic designers and advertising artists, everyone learns transferable skills. Pratt genuinely believes that there really is no pure “illustration” career - illustration students work in graphic and vice versa, both work in advertising, and the ad art kids can very easily end up with a job in illustrating! It’s all pretty much the same discipline and it’s all “applied” meaning that your skills (technique) and vision (i.e. strategy for communicating) are put to good work to effectively get the client’s message out to the public. Unlike a fine artist who is known for his/her unique message, you are working to communicate the client’s point of view be it a large company, an author/publisher, a non-profit organization, etc. This approach is distinctive about Pratt’s program. While other schools will help you develop the same skill set, you will be doing so with a much more open mind at Pratt. Hopefully you won’t be thinking “I’m an illustrator” as much as you are thinking “I’m a visual communication designer”. Of course, you may WELL work as an illustrator but with a broader, more flexible vision and approach - including incorporating new technologies and other media into your work product. That’s the goal at any rate!
As to the instructors in ComD - I can’t speak to whether any of them are “mean”. They are demanding and they are kind of academic and nerdy (my impression) but we happened to like that about them! The studio classes - especially in the upper divisions - are going to run just like in the industry meaning you are given a project as if by a client and you complete it and pitch it to the class. Tough - sure. Some of those profs are going to be like a really demanding client. But it will prepare you for the brutal reality of the real world. And dollars to doughnuts that SVA is just as tough. No studio art program exists to boost self esteem; rather, they are ALL going to challenge you and critique your work - sometimes pretty harshly. A BFA at a nationally ranked school is not going to be for everyone.
My D1 is at Pantas Hall for her first year dorm and really likes it but the dorms in general aren’t the best we’ve seen for an art school. Pantas seems to be the nicest of the three (I think) and is most centrally located. Pratt is building new dorms but not sure when that will be done - they were announced last fall when D1 showed up for orientation. Their student union went under major renovations the past year and will be open for fall 2016 - and it looks stunning from the pics that I’ve seen. The campus is beautiful and it IS a real campus (which my daughter loves about the school). Dorms are very close to the studios. SVA won’t have that advantage but its reputation for illustration is excellent. Not sure about the quality of the dorms - you’ll want to check that out for yourself.
Good luck!